THE LASTING IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON COMMERCIAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION: VIRTUAL HEARINGS
COVID-19 has had an impact on many aspects of commercial dispute resolution as legal representatives have been unable to access their workplaces, domestic courts have closed, and arbitral tribunals, mediators, legal counsel and experts have been unable to travel to attend hearings.
We have seen first-hand the impact lockdowns, mandatory quarantine and global travel restrictions have had on commercial dispute resolution. For a short period in early 2020 that coincided with large cities in mainland China being placed in strict lockdown situations, we observed a reduction in new cases being commenced. However, the number of new cases being commenced has normalised, and exceeded that of 2019, as lockdowns ease and as people adapt to working remotely.
In the early stages of COVID-19, many parties and tribunals were grappling with requests for extensions of time and the postponement or rescheduling of hearings. Many requests of this nature were granted. However, once it became apparent that the pandemic was not going to resolve in the short term or be restricted to a limited number of jurisdictions, parties and tribunals look increasingly at running hearings virtually in order to advance proceedings.
This led to the most striking and lasting impact: a sharp increase in the number of partially or fully virtual hearings. Since February, we have seen an incredible increase in demand for virtual hearing services. In April and May 2020, over 80 percent of all our hearings involved virtual hearing aspects.
Oct-Dec 2020 issue
Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC)